Birds Scatter to the Woods

Those who held office see their estates in ruins; The wealthy find their gold and silver gone; The kind are rescued from the jaws of death; The heartless receive their just retribution. Those who owed a life have repaid it; Those who owed tears have shed their last. Karmic debts are no trifling matter; Parting and meeting are all predestined. To know why life is short, ask your former life; To be rich in old age is mere lucky chance. Those who see through it all enter the gate of emptiness; The deluded throw away their lives for nothing. Like birds who, when the food is gone, scatter to the woods— All that remains is a vast, white, clean expanse of earth!